"No thank you! The hot chocolate is enough for me, given the lunch I had too. Thank you again, um..." Kaine blushed in what could only be seen as an adolescent girl seeing her crush for the first time, looking away. "You, um... never actually told me your name..." Kaine covered her face with her hands, feeling the warmth from the blood rushing to it, and knowing how she looked when she blushed she only blushed harder.

As much as she wanted to beg her savior not to look at her, Kaine couldn't muster any words or any sounds at all, minus a small squeak as she blushed even harder, and got up and ran out the door. At least this time, her stuff was being paid for...

...Kaine just realized, in addition to not actually knowing Maki's name, she still didn't know what it meant to pay for something.

Though she was unaware of it, Kaine had ran to an empty park where she simply sat on the bench and buried her face into her hands and knees harder and harder, trying to stop blushing and being embarrassed. If Maki followed her... she'd probably just blush harder.

She said that the cocoa was plenty for the dessert I offered her. She asked for my name before doing the adorable wordflubby gimmick, then poof. Without even giving me a chance to tell her my name... she left. I suppose maybe she's not ready for the world. But I still offered to pay the tab, and I did, before noticing that there was a sword that I was fairly certain did not belong to me, or anyone else in this little diner. Welp, no use leaving it here.

Out into the lovely, smelly streets of New York, I thought to myself what I would do if I was a little girl that didn't know any better and was basically a walking target for anyone that had a brain. Apparently I know nothing about being a shy little girl, then again, I was raised with a backbone unlike this one sitting on a bench in Central Park of all places, whimpering with her head buried in her hands. Seriously kiddo? "You pick the worst places to hide. Then again, I'm pretty sure the tail would scare off most weird people. By the way, you forgot this." hoping not to scare her off again, I presented the sword which I assumed belonged to her. "The name's Maki. Maki Kesshou. Trust me, I'm here to actually help you. Come with me and we'll talk about a place you can stay."

on Fri Mar 31, 2017 9:39 pm

You'll never be a girl.It doesn't matter how badly you want it, Cain, you will never be a girl.Dragons aren't real, Cain, you can't be a dragon.Why can't you just be happy with what you have?Everyone else is happy with what they have.Why do you need to be a girl to be happy?Why do you need to be a dragon to be happy?What's wrong with you?

Why couldn't we have a normal son.

Her tears were silent. She could hear other people walking by, none of them seeming to even notice her. Maybe, to the general populace of New York City, seeing a girl crying on a bench wasn't all that different from normal. None of them knew her story, none of them knew where she was from; hell, none of them knew her name. No one knew her name.

This wasn't Kainé's first encounter in the real world. She'd met other people, individuals of great status even if they're of other races... no one seemed to get to her like Maki. The sad thing was, Maki didn't even do anything. Kainé's hormones were rampant due to both being a teenager and being transgender, which meant she was getting a double dose of hormones. It was okay to cry, but this was different. She hadn't cried in a long time, and everything was coming out. Everything she'd pent up over the past three years was coming out all at once and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it no one can stop nothing stops it's too late to stop no one-

"You pick the worst places to hide. Then again, I'm pretty sure the tail would scare off most weird people. By the way, you forgot this."

Kainé looked up from her hands, her face wrecked with tears and sweat and her makeup lightly running, to see Maki holding her sword. Sniffling lightly to try and hold herself together, she reached out and took hold of her sword, placing it in its' makeshift sheath on her back, where it belonged. How had she forgotten her sword, of all things? Maki went on to tell Kainé her name, and offered her a place to stay.

"Th..the tail isn't permanent, y'know..." Kainé blushed lightly as she stood up and began to follow Maki. "That was just one thing I can do. A-and, um... do you want to be called Maki, or Ms Kesshou?"

It seemed that, after all that crying, things would return to normal very quickly.

I couldn't tell what it was eating away at her, but something was there, burrowing deep into her heart. I felt it best to leave that fear to stifle for another day. When I greeted her, she didn't flee. Instead, she opened her eyes, shaking in her seat, and reclaimed one of her few possessions. She still seemed overwhelmed, flustered even, but she was alive. She seemed to calm down enough to pull herself together. After falling to pieces and being weakened by a confusing world, I took her hand and took her to Albatross Inc., the face of the Committee. "In here, it's safe. No one will question who you are. We will teach you what we can, and in turn, hopefully you will be able to feel as though you do have a place to belong. There is room, board, and food here, so no need to fret, kiddo."

on Fri Mar 31, 2017 11:11 pm

It hadn't taken long before Kainé had gotten herself together enough that they could leave. Since they were done eating, even if that was Kainé's fault, the only place left to go was... wait, where were they going? Kainé had been following her for a few minutes now, and she suddenly realized she didn't know where they were going. While she knew Maki's name, now, she didn't know anything else about her.

When they got to Albatross Inc., Kainé looked very confused, but shrugged it off as they went inside. An albatross was a bird, so... was this an airline company? That would make sense... too much sense, actually, so Kainé dismissed it. It was too obvious.

"It's very pretty." Kainé commented, seeing Albatross Incorporated's lobby. "If you'd like, you can show me to my room first, or we can go where I can show you what I can actually do. The tail isn't everything!" Kainé giggled lightly as they walked through the lobby.

"Well, while we're walking anyway, I can tell you a bit about myself. I'm from a Monk Monastery in Tibet, where my parents moved from Ireland. My name used to be Cain, but I changed it to Kainé when I..." she trailed off slightly, but was confident Maki would pick up on her intentions. "I've just been exploring since then. I've met a few interesting people, but most seem to ignore me. The world is incredibly beautiful though!" Kainé's eyes lit up almost like reiatsu was flooding them, but it was really just her excitement. "So, what is Albatross Inc. anyway?"

As we approached the inner walls of the facility, the girl's eyes lit up, and she mentioned something about maybe wanting to see her room, or showing off the rest of her powers. Walking along, little Kaine told me bits about herself, like how she grew up as a monk in Tibet. She kept going on and on, but all of a sudden trailed off, seemingly forcing herself to be distracted. Then she talked about some of the people she's met and the places she's been. Sure enough, there was a sugar-soaked fire in her eyes that I found admirable. I lead her to our training room, pressed a few buttons and soon there was a virtual rendition of my home, Hokkaido.

"I grew up in Hokkaido Prefecture, of Japan. In my father's care, I learned martial arts, both armed and unarmed, and studied heavily. I have a near-photographic memory of the things I read, so there were often times where my nose was in a textbook. I studied the laws of chemistry, physics, and other sciences mostly. Then my mother... well. She was never a very kind person, but when she left, she made sure my father was dead. She didn't care much for me, but left me there, regardless. I did get to keep the estate, and most everything in it... but then my dad came back to the place, as a Hollow. He mistook me for his murderous wife and tried to consume me. It was then that my power came out. Ever since then, I've been both curious about material science and what I can do to help make this world a bit safer. This is my home, in this virtual setting. But enough about me, show me what you can do, kiddo." I would point out my house in the virtual setting, then smirk, drawing my staff and feeling the power unlock, flowing through my body. At its full length, I projected myself into a ready stance.

on Mon Apr 03, 2017 10:10 am

It seemed they were going into a holographic room where Maki had set it up to show Kainé where she was from. It really was gorgeous, Japan was always so much more beautiful than China. As Maki told Kainé about herself, the small white-haired girl couldn't help but feel sad about her mother leaving, but things seemed to turn out well for her, so it wasn't too big of a deal. Then Maki readied herself for combat.

Nodding, Kainé unsheathed her blade and readied it, inhaling softly to calm her nerves. Fighting was far from her favorite thing to do, but she needed to show Maki what she could do- that was the important part. Holding her blade with her right hand, Kainé channeled her reiatsu into her left hand as it became coated in scales with claws on each finger. Inhaling deeply, Kainé released a focused beam of pure energy, similar to a Gran Rey Cero, but instead of just exploding and being done it was a continuous beam that didn't seem to stop just yet.

Simultaneously though, Kainé channeled reiatsu into her blade, firing off two waves of energy as she swung it in a wide ark and then thrusted it forward, creating a culmination of attacks that she hoped would show Maki she at least knew what she was doing, to an extent.

technique log

DRAGON'S DRIVEFocusing her energy on a specific limb of her body, Kaine can coat it in the essence of a dragon and gain other properties. Her arms or legs become coated in scales and gain five-inch claws on each finger or toe; her shoulders grow wings that are large and strong enough to carry up to 200lbs in addition to her own weight; her tailbone grows a tail five-feet in length and fully prehensile; her head gets coated in scales and increases the damage of her Dragon's Roar or Dragon's Nova by 50%. This ability lasts up to 2 posts with a 4 post cooldown.

DRAGON'S CRESTFocusing her energy into her sword, Kaine can release the energy in the form of a massive wave following the arc of her swing or in a beam by thrusting her blade. This technique has the destructive capability of a cero, and can be fired off twice per post. Alternatively, Kaine can further power the technique, doubling the damage it can deal, but causing it to have a one post cooldown before it can be used again.

DRAGON'S NOVAKaine breathes in deeply before releasing a focused beam of pure energy from her mouth. The beam has the desctructive capabilities of a Gran Rey Cero, and can be held for an entire post. Similar to her Dragon's Roar, this ability can be manipulated during the cast, and has no delay in updating it's angle of attack. This ability extends up to one-hundred meters from Kaine's position, and can be used once every six posts.

As the girl took in the area, admiring it, I was pleased that she'd reminisced a bit. Clearly, she was both happy and sad, thinking about this rendition of Hokkaido and her old home as well. But shortly after I readied myself, she did too, even though it was a bit awkward for her. As soon as I saw the scales appear, I figured I better turn my powers up. Tidal Silver, my crystal fluid quickly began to fill the area around me, and the girl in front of me fired off a blast of raw energy, which I blocked with a wall of solid crystal. It blasted the wall clean apart and I took some of the shrapnel, smirking a little bit. She was plenty strong, but let's see if she could handle this. I split my staff into two and slipped one half onto each arm.

As she swung her blade a few times, waves of energy were released from it, and I countered them with wristguards composed of more crystal, then charged forward, more crystal forming around my limbs in a thin state. As I got close, my hands were coated in Tidal Silver and I aimed to punch Kaine, if she swung her sword, I'd aim to grab it, and then toss it down. Otherwise I'd try to whip her tail with a thin strand of the liquid. My main objective was to test her reflexes, combat ability, and power, and if she didn't have any of that, to see how much she could take before she could broke.

on Tue Apr 11, 2017 3:46 am

The beam of energy had shattered the wall of crystal, and Maki took some of the shrapnel, not having expected it to be that strong, apparently. Then she split her staff in two and blocked the beams of energy with her wristguards, then charged forward. As she got close and went to punch Kainé, the little girl dodged it by ducking under and dashing between Maki's legs.

Now behind her, Kainé inhaled deeply and released a cone-like tornado of energy from her mouth, equally powerful to a Cero, before swinging her blade two again, firing off two more beams of energy. She planned to not hurt Maki, but to make her realize Kainé had the ability to back up her energy. Finally, she punched the ground, creating a small crater and some rubble, which she slapped into Maki's current position, and scooped up some of the loose dirt with her open hand after it returned to normal.

technique log

DRAGON'S DRIVEFocusing her energy on a specific limb of her body, Kaine can coat it in the essence of a dragon and gain other properties. Her arms or legs become coated in scales and gain five-inch claws on each finger or toe; her shoulders grow wings that are large and strong enough to carry up to 200lbs in addition to her own weight; her tailbone grows a tail five-feet in length and fully prehensile; her head gets coated in scales and increases the damage of her Dragon's Roar or Dragon's Nova by 50%. This ability lasts up to 2 posts with a 4 post cooldown.

DRAGON'S CRESTFocusing her energy into her sword, Kaine can release the energy in the form of a massive wave following the arc of her swing or in a beam by thrusting her blade. This technique has the destructive capability of a cero, and can be fired off twice per post. Alternatively, Kaine can further power the technique, doubling the damage it can deal, but causing it to have a one post cooldown before it can be used again.

DRAGON'S ROARKaine can release a tornado-like attack of pure energy from her mouth with the destructive capabilities of a Cero. This attack has an exceptionally wide area of effect in a cone-shape, but a relatively short range. At the edge, the attack reaches fifty meters in diamater, but only extends twenty meters from Kaine's position. She can hold this attack for the entirety of a post, during which she can turn to change the angle of the attack, as well as move around. Kaine can use this ability once every two posts.

As I found out, the girl was quite quick. For a seemingly quiet one, she was quite scaly and bulky when she wanted to be. She dodged my punch with no effort, by sliding between my legs, something which I should have seen coming, given her size. This time, when she readied a blast of energy, I knew to expect it. One of the tables nearby, almost entirely composed of steel would fly into Kaine's position as she fired a cone of energy at me. If I had to remark, that looked like the breath of a dragon. I had to chuckle a little just because of the way she attacked and used her powers. I'd bound backward before the cone was in range of me.

Then she made a crater out of my floor and flung some of the rubble and stone towards me. I flipped my palm, still covered in crystal, and propelled thin needles of it at each piece of stone. On impact, each shard would detonate, and thus reduce each shred of debris to dust. If she was quite finished, I'd launch what was left of my crystal gloves one piece at a time, first, the joints of the fingers, then the palm halves, and lastly, the wrist halves. Again, each piece would detonate according to their size, and as such, wouldn't harm her by that much. It might scare her a little though. I'd cover my skin in a thin layer of liquid crystal and lunge forward after the gloves had hit. In that situation, I needed to be ready to catch her off guard.